From the Weekender Sports Desk: Mourning the ‘Boys

Allow me to vent a bit. I need to get this out of the way before moving on:

Here’s how quickly the mood changed from euphoria to a sense of impending doom yesterday in the Cowboys’ excruciating 21-17 loss to the Giants yesterday:

After completing an amazing, 20-play, 96-yard TD drive that ate up almost (but not quite enough of) the entire second quarter, I thought, “That looks like a team ready to win a playoff game.”

After said score was negated 40 seconds later, I thought, “That’s how you lose a playoff game.”

I mean, c’mon. If you’re a Giants fan, and you get the ball back with 47 seconds and two time outs left in the first half down 14-7 after what should have been a soul-crushing drive, wouldn’t you have been elated to go to halftime only down 14-10? Instead, the game changed when the Giants stuck it into the end zone, thanks in part to what turned out to be a four-point face-mask penalty by backup corner Jacques Reeves.

But the worst sequence came in the third quarter, when the Cowboys led 17-14. A Tony Romo to Jason Witten pass for a first down was negated by a stupid penalty on lineman Leonard Davis, who couldn’t let an opportunity pass to rough up the Giants’ Michael Strahan long after the ball was out of Romo’s hand. Then Romo appeared to bail them out by scrambling and finding wideout Patrick Crayton running free across the middle. It was going to be a certain first down, and maybe a TD, since Crayton’s defender was a step behind him and there was no one else in the picture. But Crayton dropped the ball. Then the Cowboys missed two tackles on the ensuing punt return, giving the Giants a short field. They took advantage, punched it in and never trailed again.

OK, we’re not talking about doing something spectacular. We’re talking simple, basic stuff. Don’t take a stupid, undisciplined penalty. Catch a relatively short throw that’s right in your hands. Make a tackle. You don’t even have to make all three plays. Make the first, and maybe the second isn’t fatal. Or make the second, and you erase the first mistake and don’t have to punt.

ARRRR. OK, now some other items, in no particular order:

• Cowboy haters may be jubilant this morning, but upset losses by Dallas and the defending champ Indianapolis Colts set up perhaps the worst pair of conference championship games in history. If playoff-tested Seattle couldn’t slow down Brett Favre and Green Bay even after being spotted 14 gift points, what chance do the Giants and their battered secondary have?

And this season looks more and more like the coronation of the undefeated New England Patriots. Geez, has a team ever needed or deserved less good luck? Instead of a rematch with the Colts, they get the equally battered San Diego Chargers, who somehow won with their main weapon (running back LaDainian Tomlinson) sidelined, the second-best weapon (tight end Antonio Gates) hobbled, and needing a backup QB (Billy Volek) to direct a game-winning TD drive.

• Tony Romo haters need to remind themselves that he has been the starting QB for a season and a half. How long did it take the brothers Manning to win a playoff game? And I’m thinking that injured thumb bothered him more than he let on. On the field-goal drive in the third quarter, he had Terrell Owens wide open for what probably would have been a TD, but threw a wobbly, high duck two feet behind him.

• Can we emphasize tackling in training camp next summer? Three missed tackles on the key third-quarter punt return; three more in the first quarter that turned a short Eli Manning-to Amani Toomer completion into a 52-yard TD.

• Here’s something you might not expect from a Cowboys fan — the ability to see a silver lining. It’s easy to forget this morning that this team wasn’t exactly pegged for 13-3 by the preseason prognostigators. They’re a very young team that, with two first-round draft picks next year, should only get better. Just a bit of patience would be nice.

• The flip side of that coin: A sick, morning-after feeling that this season was a massive missed opportunity. Dallas’ injury luck was better than most. The schedule set up almost perfectly — the bye week in midseason; being at home the Sunday before the Thanksgiving Day game; Green Bay at home. Next year, they get the Packers in Lambeau. Add that to home-field advantage and a wounded opponent that even got more wounded as the game progressed, and you get the feeling that the Cowboys not making it to the Super Bowl was like Tiger Woods missing a two-foot putt to win a major.

OK, back to your regularly scheduled Weekender programming. Although I reserve the right to talk about the Spurs when the mood strikes (like maybe a few minutes from now).